Philippe Alliot
|birthplace = Voves, Eure-et-Loir, France |death date = |placeofdeath = |nationality = |years = - , - |status = Retired |currentteam = |currentcar = |firstrace = 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix |lastrace = 1994 Belgian Grand Prix}} Philippe Alliot (born July 27, 1954) is a former French Formula One driver who participated in the sport from to and to . Formula One Career Skoal Bandit RAM Racing (1984-1985) In 1984, he joined the Skoal Bandit RAM Racing Formula One team. He did not enjoyed much in the way of success, even failing to qualify 2 times in Belgium and Monaco. He did not started the Dallas Grand Prix without any reason. He scored no championship points, and finished only 3 times out of 13. In 1985 he was retained by RAM Racing. He finished 9th in the season opener at Brazil, but did not finished further in the rest of the season. Failing to qualify in Monaco, his team folded before the end of the season. As a result, he went to the International Formula 3000 to race for Oreca in 1986. Ligier (1986) After two years in F1 with the uncompetitive Hart-engined RAM cars, he dropped back into Formula 3000.http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/heritage/driver/philippe-alliot/ After Frenchman Jacques Laffite was injured at the and retired from Formula One thereafter, Alliot replaced him for the remainder of the season for . He would score his first career points at the , finishing sixth with 1 point. Larrousse (1987-1989) After one season at Ligier, he moved to fellow French team . He scored 3 points in 1987. In 1988, he had a massive crash at the last qualifying session of the . He lost control of his Lola Larrousse coming out of the Peraltada corner, leading into the pit straight. He crashed after riding the outside curbing, as the car suddenly pulled right, collided with the pit wall, barrel-rolling down the straight, disintegrating and in the end stopped upside down in the middle of the track. Alliot was not only unhurt, but the team were able to re-build the car, and Alliot was able to make it to the race. He would score only one point in 1989 at the . He left the team to get back to Ligier. Return to Ligier (1990) As he returned to Ligier, he gained a reputation for accidents and crashes. This reputation led to criticism from team members, other drivers and even sports commentators. James Hunt called Alliot "one of the worst Grand Prix drivers ever to drive a Grand Prix car". In the season-opening , Alliot was excluded from participating in the race when a mechanic worked on the car outside of the pit area during Friday's practice. He was disqualified from Germany because marshals helped his Ligier car to rejoin the race after being blocked by the spinning of Emanuele Pirro. He would fail to qualify for the , and would score no championship points that season. In Portugal, he clipped 's Nigel Mansell and crashed out coming to the 2nd turn. He would leave Formula One for sports car racing, racing for the Peugeot Sport team, enjoying his success. Sports car racing (1991-1992) Return to Larrousse (1993) Alliot made another attempt at Formula One with a return to Larrousse in 1993. He scored his last points finish at the , finishing fifth. He was replaced by Japanese driver Toshio Suzuki for the final two rounds of the race. McLaren test driver (1994) Alliot undertook a test driver role for the McLaren team in 1994, leading to an one-off race for the team at the while Mika Häkkinen was suspended for an incident at the previous Grand Prix in Germany. After Formula One Alliot announced his retirement from Formula One in 1995. After that, he continued his racing career in sports car racing, driving at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1995 and 1996. He decided to try a career in politics, also did some television commentary and competed in ice racing and the Dakar Rally, but ended up running his own GT racing team. Formula One Statistical Overview Formula One Record Career Statistics Career Results | | | | | |10th| || | |11th|10th| | | |0|NC}} | | | | | | | | | | | | |||0|NC}} |9th| | | | |8th|1|18th}} | | | | | |12th| | | | | | |3|17th}} |17th| | |10th| | |14th| |12th|9th| | |14th|9th|10th|0|NC}} | | | | | | | | |16th| |9th| | | |1|26th}} |12th|9th| | |18th|9th|13th| |14th| |13th| | |10th|11th|0|NC}} |7th| | | |12th| |9th|11th|12th|8th|12th|9th|10th|||2|17th}} | ||||||0|NC}} Notes Quotes ''"Ligier seem to be getting their act together, but Alliot's crashes don't help." ''- Andrew Marriott. Eurosport. 1990 San Marino Grand Prix Build-Up. Category:Drivers Category:1954 births Category:1984 Début Drivers Category:RAM Drivers Category:Ligier Drivers Category:Larrousse Drivers Category:McLaren Drivers Category:French Drivers